Sunday, 11 September 2011

Hello from Cocoa

Sunday/Monday:
Got up a little before I was entirely ready on Sunday. There seemed to be a air of worry - Mummy was gathering all my clothes up and counting them and Daddy was putting them into big cases together with more nappies than I could ever use. I got bathed, dressed, fed and bundled into the car for a trip to see Granny and Grandad E. They were VERY pleased to see me and cuddled and entertained me no end. All too soon, it was time to go but we didn't go home...

...instead, we went to Gatwick airport, which was a strange place full of slightly unhappy looking people. We went to a nice lounge and I made lots of loud, happy noises but this didn't seem to cheer up the other people at all. Then we got on a plane, much bigger than the one I'd been on before. We were going on a holiday! The Maldives is basically for honeymoons or a place for people who aren't yet Mummies or Daddies, so the looks I got from the other passengers, when Mum carried me onto our flight, were quite special to say the least. But they don't know how experienced a traveller I have become and were pleasantly surprised by my sleeping skills. M+D got comfy seats which turned into beds and I got a special bed all of my very own. Mum didn't sleep all that much so watched 3 films. Dad put his ear plugs in and eye mask on and went out like a light, but he did get up to feed me. Me - I just slept when I wasn't being fed. Not sure what the fuss was about, really.

Once we arrived at Male airport, we were whisked away to our own boat which sped us to our island resort. http://www.cocoaisland.como.bz/ They were very pleased to see M&D again and ever so happy to see me. Our room is shaped like a boat. It has steps into the Indian Ocean and an enormous bath, an upstairs for M&D to sleep in, and most importantly, a cot for me!

Ours is the last boat on the right

Tuesday to Sunday:
This is my first beach holiday so I'm not sure how they're meant to work, but here are my observations:
It is REALLY BRIGHT out here. The sky is bright, the sand is blinding, even the sea is piercing blue. So I have my own sunglasses, and sun-hat and sun-goop (factor one zillion). Oh and an umbrella if it's super bright!

The sea is warm - I mean properly warm! I've been swimming in the sea, the big outdoor pool and the spa-pool which is hotter than my baths back home.

Recipe: Swimming Arthur (makes one).
Ingredients:

An Arthur

A warm pool

One swimming nappy (to avoid leaks)

One sun-proof swimming costume

Factor 50 water-proof suncream

One sun-hat

One blow up rubber ring for babies

One or two parents

Method:

Remove nappy and clean the Arthur in the usual way.

Apply the swim nappy, the Factor 50, the swimming costume and the sun hat

Blow up the inner section rubber ring, blow up the middle section, blow up the outer section.

Feel a bit light headed, and have a sit down.

Assemble the changing bag

Add a second bag for swim stuff and post swim stuff for Arthur, and normal stuff for M&D

Leave the room. Lock the room.

Remember the camera.

Repeat step 7.

Walk 500m to the pool. Best to be carried if you are the Arthur.

All this takes a good 30mins. But it was worth it. Dad hasn't seen me swim before and I did my bestest underwater swimming and floating in my new yellow inflatable chair thing.

Babysitting - or as M&D call it - diving:
I got a babysitter. Her name is Jane and I've seen her 3 times now. This was so M&D could go diving - at the same time! They were only away for two hours each time but always came back ever so excited. They've seen big adult manta rays. One so close Daddy could touch it. And then a juvenile whale shark. Apparently this was quite a big deal as they could talk of nothing else. Oh, and two types of turtles and lots and lots and lots of fish.

Sleeping and screaming:
I think I've adapted rather well. M&D say time is different to back home but I can't tell so I've just been sleeping right through the night and waking up at 7.30 or 8.
On the other hand I do seem to get into a bit of a tiz at about 7pm for about an hour. Sadly this coincides with my evening feed and with M&D's evening feed. The island we're on is rather small and I can now scream loud enough to be heard from one end to the other. Works a treat when the restaurant's busy. Dad carried me out onto the beach in the moonlight so I paused for a bit until we we were alongside a couple having a romantic dinner on the sand - then I let rip. Tee hee. Dad say's I'm the best contraceptive he knows, whatever that means.

I'm very quiet - honest.

Food:
Tim is the chef here and he makes me special food each day, all pureed. One meat one, one veggie one and one sweet one. My favourite is mashed banana and mango. The staff are all lovely and give me cuddles and keep me entertained when M&D look tired. Important point - Mum had failed to ask me what temperature I would like my food. Well, it was too warm for me on the first day and so I told her. Just to be sure, I said it loud enough for the whole island to hear. They've always cooled it down since - so that worked!

Parental amusements:
Mum and Dad like reading books outside. They don't do this at home. They read to me, obviously, but don't sit in the sun just reading but here they love it. They both also like snorkelling, which is sort of posh swimming while looking at the fish and breathing through a straw. Mummy even took pictures of fish with her new underwater camera. Daddy took some too and tried to be all clever about getting me, Mummy and the fish in the same photo:

Above the water

Below the water

In close up - my own Lionfish!

They also had massages. I like massages too but have never had one for an hour and a half. There isn't enough of me for one thing.

Storms:
Most days have been very sunny. Some have been overcast which I prefer because I can see better and it's not quite so hot. But on two days we've had really big storms. These don't last long but I worried we were going to be blown away for a while.